Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
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| As conservation easement in Franklin County |
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Monday, October 8, 2007
Jim and Esta Wilson of Martinsville have donated the largest conservation easement in Franklin County history to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.
The easement on their 878 acres in the Algoma area of northwest Franklin County is more than two-and-a-half times the size of the next largest conservation easement in the county.
The easement will contribute to the protection of scenic views from the Blue Ridge Parkway and Callaway Road, a state designated Scenic Byway. It also will contribute to the water quality of the area with a riparian buffer on Green Creek, a tributary of the Blackwater River that also is a Class II Wild Trout Stream and a source of drinking water for Rocky Mount, according to a news release from the Roanoke-based Western Virginia Land Trust.
“I love the outdoors and love to hunt, fish and hike,” said Wilson, a former trustee of the land trust. “I’d like to leave a few acres for the grandchildren to enjoy one day.”
Wilson added that he hopes his conservation easement will “encourage other people to consider a conservation easement. They seem to be growing in popularity, and this may serve as a catalyst for others to move in that direction.”
Conservation easements are vital in the efforts to protect scenic views along the Blue Ridge Parkway, according to the release.
“Conservation easements, such as the donation from James and Esta Wilson, will assure these views are not compromised but protected in perpetuity,” said Parkway Superintendent Philip A. Francis Jr.
The Wilsons’ latest easement is their third with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. Their first two were in Canaday Gap section of the Blue Ridge Parkway adjacent Smart View Recreation area: an easement on 122 acres in 1997 and one on 198 acres in 2002.
A conservation easement is a deeded legal agreement between a landowner and a conservation organization that limits the kinds of development that can take place on the property. In addition to permanently protecting their lands from development, landowners who donate conservation easements can receive substantial federal tax deductions and state tax credits, reduced property taxes and inheritance tax exclusions.
Landowners still own the land after placing an easement on it and can still sell it, leave it to their children or do anything with it that is permitted within the easement.
The Western Virginia Land Trust is a non-profit organization that promotes the conservation of farms, forests, waterways and rural landscapes in western Virginia. Since 1996, it has helped conserve more than 21,000 acres.
The Virginia Outdoors Foundation is a state agency whose mission includes the preservation of open space lands. Since 1968, it has saved more than 400,000 acres in the commonwealth. |
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